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Table 4 Factors associated with medically irrelevant contacts (problems considered non-severe by parents and more appropriate for the daytime GP by triaging GPs)

From: Preschool children in out-of-hours primary care – a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study of factors related to the medical relevance of health problems

Characteristics

Telephone consultations

(n = 71a)

Face-to-face contacts

(n=95a)

Prevalence

Adj. prevalence ratiob

(95% CI)

p-value

Prevalence

Adj. prevalence ratiob

(95% CI)

p-value

Age

  < 3 years

0.15

1 (reference)

 

0.09

1 (reference)

 

 3–5 years

0.13

0.99 (0.61–1.62)

0.982

0.11

1.41 (0.96–2.06)

0.077

Duration of symptoms

  < 5 h

0.13

1 (reference)

 

0.06

1 (reference)

 

 5–12 h

0.13

0.94 (0.50–1.75)

0.834

0.10

1.86 (0.95–3.62)

0.069

  > 12–24 h

0.14

1.30 (0.67–2.49)

0.437

0.09

1.91 (0.99–3.69)

0.055

  > 24 h

0.17

1.50 (0.86–2.61)

0.150

0.12

2.65 (1.45–4.86)

0.002

Time of contact

 4–8 pm on weekdays

0.22

1 (reference)

 

0.11

1 (reference)

 

 8 pm-8 am on weekdays

0.13

0.57 (0.34–0.95)

0.033

0.07

0.70 (0.40–1.22)

0.205

 Weekends and holidays

0.11

0.40 (0.23–0.68)

0.001

0.10

0.69 (0.44–1.61)

0.112

Geographical location

 Urban

0.14

1 (reference)

 

0.09

1 (reference)

 

 Rural

0.15

1.11 (0.12–0.34)

0.639

0.09

1.11 (0.76–1.61)

0.588

  1. aTwo and 19 in telephone consultations and face-to-face consultations, respectively, excluded from analysis due to missing responses
  2. bAdjusted for age groups, duration of symptoms and time of contact